AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay,” she said, taking the key fob from him and dragging the dented and scratched rolling luggage with cartoon characters on it. Tucked in the crook of her arm was a teddy bear and her pink blanket which he had given her when she was a baby. The girl wouldn’t sleep without it and it showed the years of wash cycles and bad nights in the wear on the fading fabric.
“Make sure you’re all buckled in by the time I get out there,” he said.
“No hug goodbye for Daddy Mitch?” Mitch called out and it took everything inside Mike to not clock the guy in front of his daughter.
“No,” he said, his voice cold and firm as he stepped between his daughter and her abuser. “No hug goodbye this time.”
“I think that should be up to Sydney,” he said. “Like it or not we’re a pretty happy family.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen the posts,” he countered and gave Sydney a nod to leave. They’d made him jealous. The smiling faces on family outings. How blessed they all were to have Mitch in their lives. Sassy touting how much they were all enjoying an impromptu day of fun. Was it a reward for Sydney complying?
The cover of perfection on the perfect street, in the perfect home with the perfect—the click of the latch when Sydney had closed the door was a trigger. The façade fading away as his hand encircled Mitch’s throat and slammed him into the wall so hard the drywall made a perfect indent from his head.
“You touched my daughter,” he howled, fingers tightening around the man’s throat as he pressed his Adam’s apple to the point of suffocation. “You touched my daughter.”
Mitch squirmed, his hands clutching Mike’s wrist and straining to pull the force made stronger by the man’s rage from his neck.
“I trusted you. You looked me in my eyes and said you’d protect her. Care for her.”
Pulling him from the wall, Mike spun the abuser around and thrust him toward the counter with enough force a gash broke open as his temple bounced off the corner. Mitch stumbled back. Hard gasps of air as fear of what he knew was about to happen washed over him. The man knew what Mike could do. The fact he knew how to kill in ways painful or quick. Piss spread across the front of the perfectly pleated khakis of the man who knew the length of his life was completely in the hands of a trained killer.
“Sassy started it,” he coughed, hand out, as he scanned the room as if there were potential weapons in the area. “She offered her to me.”
“I don’t care if she offered you a million dollars, you knew what you were doing and you did it.” Mike took one step then two as the man stumbled away. “Much like right now, I know the options open to me and I’m more than aware of what I am doing.”
“What are you going to do?” the man who took such a tone with Sassy she gave over their daughter’s innocence to appease him now sniveled.
“Sadly, not all that I want and nowhere near what you deserve.”
The move was quick and decisive as he caught the man, spun him around and snapped his neck. A crack echoed in the empty house as the man’s legs gave way and Mike had to tighten his grip around the fucker to lower him and drag him behind the counter. Tossing the useless pile of flesh on the ground, snagging a towel, then heading to the back door. Using the towel since he didn’t have any gloves to make sure it was locked as he stood in the backyard. Scanning the area mostly blocked by a tree line he slammed his booted foot into the lock. The door swung open as the bits of wood splintered at the jamb.
Tossing items around with the towel to cover his fingerprints. He could have some there. It only made sense, he’d been there to get his daughter for the weekend. What happened after he left was outside of his control. With the evidence in his pocket, he glanced one last time at the lifeless body on the kitchen floor and prayed Sassy did what she always did, stopped to get herself a treat so he had a good half hour before the body was discovered.
With his own phone out, he sent her a quick text to cover his trail. ‘Couldn’t wait any longer, need to get on the road. Taking Syd camping and will probably have crap coverage. See you in a week.’
Normal co-parenting bullshit as he got in the truck and reached back for the keys from his daughter buckled into her booster seat. The image alone setting his mind at ease as he turned his phone off and the engine over with a clear conscious and drove away.
* * *
Porsche DeGrassa sat across the office from Doc. She had first started seeing the therapist on video chat when Doc had lived down in New Mexico. Personally, it was nice to have her in Turnabout Creek, Montana, the place she now called home. She and the prospect she was engaged to were a great addition to the town and Lord knows people in rural areas rarely have access to mental health resources. Seeing her face to face had a different vibe to it. An intimacy you couldn’t achieve through a screen and one that made Porsche less willing to break down walls, as if the anonymity of the internet had rescued her from being her true self.
“The hair is a bright change for spring,” Doc said, trying to spark any conversation since Porsche wasn’t in a place to start a topic. “Did you just do that?”
“Ruby had a dialysis appointment up in Billings yesterday,” she explained. “I wanted to shed the dark hair and go blonde again. Figured I could help out and get a little me time.”
“They did a good job,” Doc said as Porsche used a pair of sunglasses she’d been fidgeting with as a headband to keep the hair from her eyes. The chemical smell of the harsh dye needed to strip her old color would linger for days until she could shower without a cap to protect her hair. “I’m glad you got some time to think.”
“That whole dialysis thing is horrible, you know,” Porsche said thinking of the row of people set up with giant machines cleaning their blood as they zone out in chairs. “Have you heard if Ruby has been pushed up on the list?”
“Ruby’s not my patient,” Doc said.
“Yeah, but you hear things.”
“Even if I did, I would never divulge a patient’s personal information, that’s a question for Ruby to answer.” Porsche couldn’t discern if Doc’s dulcet tone was supposed to be soothing or assuring. As if Porsche feared the world knowing about her past. She only came to Doc because Red insisted she get help and wasn’t about to dole out the medicine that kept her on an even keel without talk therapy.
Twisting a lock of hair around her finger she examined the bright color, sure to fade in a few days and sighed. “I probably should have had them put a pop of pink or purple. I’m not bold enough to do a whole mermaid look. You know the one that’s bright blue at the top and slowly fades into purple. Then again, it’s not like I can go running to Billings for touch ups. This I can maintain myself with an at home kit or some bleach.”
“Porsche, can you tell me more about your time in New Mexico?” Doc asked, the woman, who’s skin was pale in contrast to the features she’d inherited from her mother sat back in the office chair she’d moved from behind her desk so there wasn’t a barrier between them.
